Aronite Sand And Crushed Coral

[hungryguppy]

I put 25lbs of crushed coral and 25lbs of argonite sand as the substrate in my 55 gallon tank. Will this mix raise my ph too much? my water has a natrul ph of 6.0, apoximatley how high will this rasie the ph?

 

[fishytyke]

crushed coral is a killer for fish i'm afraid, cichlids esp mbuna are diggers and all too often crushed coral will get stuck in their gullet=dead fish, it also traps detrius and will never ever look clean.

also fine coral sand will stay suspended in the water an irritate the fishes gills

also the lignt colour of the substrate reflect a lot of light and washes out the fishes colour and spooks them.

i know it would be a pain but you would be much, much better off tanking that lot out, using a sieve to seperate the coral and the sand and then put in a substrate of 75% ordinary fine gravel and 25% coral sand, (the sand will still buffer)

you could always use some of the crushed coral as media in an external filter, because, and this is only my opinion, that is about the only place it should be used

hope that helps

neil

 

[Ferris]

Many people have used crushed coral as a substrate for Mbuna tanks over the years without issue but the point is valid - crushed coral by its very nature is a rough substrate. I have never used it personally simply because i don't like the look of it. It is certainly beneficial as a filter media though.

If your Ph is only 6 from the tap, the substrate is unlikely to buffer it anywhere near the 8 mark so you may need to consider additives. There are some good ones on the market, Tropic Marin pro-cichlid mineral being one, but i would avoid the cheaper brands as many of them do little or nothing to the Ph or anything else for that matter.

 

[hungryguppy]

okay, thanks for the answer. The sand even when its stirred up settles right back to the bottom. you just ridded me of my worries from the ph test strips i was using. the readings were at like 9.2.

 

[dthoffsett]

I've used crushed coral for almost a year now with no problems, other than the mbuna can't dig in it like sand. They have no problem taking a mouth full and spitting it around, no injuries whatsoever. And though it does look a little dirty when it gets a coating of algae, a good vacuum takes care of that. That being said, I'm getting ready to switch to aragonite (which has been used by marine hobbyists for years without problems) simply because I miss watching the mbuna spend most of their day digging.

Test strips aren't very reliable, I would highly recommend getting a liquid test kit, API is a good brand.

 

[Eskielvr]

I have a 55 and just changed the substrate to black sand. I currently have a Whisper and an Aquaclear filter. I'm in the process of letting the Aquaclear "seed" with the beneficial bacteria before I remove the Whisper, but starting to think about keeping both filters up. I'm thinking, if I can find a small enough amount, could I use the crushed coral stuff in my Whisper and use it as a pure biological filter? If so, how much would I need?